Whatever Happens, Happens
by Nihilum
Summary: Harry Potter recieves some rather large revelations about his heritage, and who he really is. As in, who he should be calling dad. Plenty o' Sirius et James. Takes place 6th year. Not a Severitus Challenge, is a WIP. Did I manage to get all the keywords?
1. Of Forced Choices

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Title: Whatever May Come

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Author: Nil

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Rating: PG-13

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Summary: Harry begins his 6th year and finds amazing discoveries concerning his true heritage.

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Disclaimer: If I own Harry Potter, I wouldn't be posting it on FanFiction sites. I would be making some money. I do however, own the plot completely, and if not it is only because I have never seen one of this type. I think this is the only story like this at least. I hope.

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Feedback? If you would be so kind. ^^

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Archive? I would be honored! But only if you ask me first. Otherwise I'll be a touch indignant.

"Prongs, it will work. Trust me. It will."

"Sure! Can't bloody deny that, but to what purpose? To make You-Know-Who go after you instead of me? Why? What would that help. Nothing! All it would do is just get you killed."

"Calm down. No! Really, it will help. You have something that will have to be done. That dream… It was a prophecy, it had to be." James sneered at him.

"And why? That last dream you had about you and Marie Williams sure didn't come out like it was foretold."

"Listen to me Potter. This was real, I swear it to you. You can't explain the difference, even if you have had one. It's… just kind of a knowledge. You know it is true, inescapably. Sometimes you think you are absolutely sure about something, but you are just ignoring your doubts then. This, to have seen it, you can't doubt. You have something you have to do James. And if you don't do this, now, you'll die."

"Yeah, well, this just means you will die, and what good will that do? And who can kill me anyway? You and I, we took on four Death Eaters this summer and won! Odds two to one and we beat 'em hands down!" Sirius cuffed him upside the head.

"One, it will keep you alive. Two, Voldemort. Three, I don't deny that wasn't some fancy top-notch wand work if I do say so myself, but we caught them off guard. We have to switch. 

"I have the recipe for the potion and the reversal, and it is most likely the only recording of it in existence so if you don't agree I'll do it to you in your sleep and then will have to live with the guilt of tricking you. 'C'mon. I've had the prophecy, so it is a bit like a forewarning now, neither o us might have to die."

"So, you are asking me even though I don't really have a choice, huh?" Sirius fidgeted uncomfortably and looked slightly taken aback by how toneless James' words were.

"Well… that's not how I would probably choose to put it…but yes. Whether you like it or now I'm going to save your life."

"Incorrigible." Sirius gave a mock bow to his friend and smiled lightly.

"Why thank you! I do my best you know." He continued grinning at James while the other sighed.

"Fine. We'll do it. When do we start, Padfoot old friend?" he asked somewhat sullenly as Sirius laughed aloud and clapped him on the shoulder.

"It will be finished before curfew!" he grinned even more at the shocked look on James' face and explained. "I wanted to get it done before you could back out in case you changed your mind."

"So. Tonight is the last night I'll be myself." He mumbled to himself, digesting the new information.

"Actually, sometime during the summer before seventh year we'll switch. Tonight's potion is merely a binding draught to make sure you can't back out and until then we'll use the odd Poly-Juice Potion to get us used to being the other person until then."

"Why can't we just do the potion now?"

"Because I can't buy it premade, it takes a long time to make, and I can't get all of the ingredients yet. So, a good supply of Poly-Juice from Knockturn, and a couple of Pensieves."

"Pensieves? How in the- Padfoot, those are expensive! I mean really, really expensive. I was just thinking about how much you had to have spent on Poly-Juice, but two?" Sirius waved his hand dismissively as he brought out the two basins.

"Well, we needed two. Can't have our memories getting clumped together, can we? 'Cause we have to learn about each other's past a bit better ya know."

"We could have taken turns." He said simply. The Potters weren't poor by any stretch of the word, but a single pensive was rare enough on it's own.

"I'm impatient, and taking turns means waiting. So, I bought two. Don't worry about it! You are worth more than a few old candelabras from the attic. No one has probably seen them for a centaury, let alone will remember them to miss them. Here, you use them like this," he took one of the basins and placed the wand to his temple for a moment before drawing it away with a silvery… thing trailing out from his head and stuck to the end of the wand before placing it in the basin. James leaned over it, his nose nearly touching the… stuff as a wintry scene seemed to materialize for a moment before swirling away. He kept bent over waiting for it to re-appear as he asked Sirius about it.

"So, how do you make it come back? I only caught a glimpse of it and I couldn't hear anything either." He could see Sirius step up beside him from his peripheral vision just as he was contemplating poking it with his wand.

"Well, like this." Sirius pushed the back of his head down and his nose hit the stuff when he was suddenly gripped by a feeling similar to portkeying and found himself in the wintry scene that turned out to be at Hogwarts. And he was staring at his own back.

He could look around, which was sufficient to prove to him he was in control of his own body, so that meant also he wasn't seeing it from Sirius' eyes.

"Hey! Sirius!" he called out but neither the otherhim or the otherSirius answered, though a hand descended on his shoulder and he looked to see his friend grinning at him.

"It is just a memory, you can't effect them at all, so they can't have any knowledge of you."

"Yeah, but, this is your memory, so where are you?" Sirius pointed to a snow drift where a large dog crouched staring at the otherhim who was in turn staring at some girls walking on a path that's way had been cleared to the greenhouses. Too pops in quick succession sounded from where otherSirius was and there was no longer otherPadfoot but two boys, one of them being otherPeter.

OtherSirius grabbed a handful of snow and lobbed it at the back of otherJames' head, striking him with no little force. OtherSirius had switched back into otherPadfoot as soon as the snowball had left his hand while otherPeter stood there looking startled as otherJames turned around with a yelp and shot a hiccupping jinx at otherPeter. James turned to Sirius with a slight look of shock and ready to say something when the memory ended and he felt himself shot out with a hard jolt.

"Since this was only a single memory, you were shot out of it when all the memories were played through. To get out before then you have to either have the person whose memory it is pull you out from inside or someone break your contact with the memory matter in the basin. Your body doesn't go inside you know. If no one does either of those things, you just have to watch all the memories before you can leave."

"Wow. And I had thought Wormtail had been possessed at the time. How do you remove a memory? And do you still have it in your head?"

"Well, you have seen it, so you have knowledge of it, yet it is still in the Pensieve. It more makes a viewable copy of something than removes it from your mind. It also clarifies it, so it might not be the same as you remember it, since it shows what truly happened, even parts you may not have noticed, rather than your perspective of it. And to remove a memory, just do what I did while thinking of which memory you want. Try it." James stuck his wand to his temple and thought of getting his letter for Hogwarts.

Harry Potter looked in the bathroom mirror of his aunt and uncle's house thinking, not for the first time that summer, that he had changed a good deal.

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So, what do ya think? Good, bad, what? Please! Tell me! If you are logged in when you review I promise I'll go review one of your stories. Also, tell me if you have ever seen a story like this, kay? 

Ta,

Nihilum


	2. Of Memories and 'Crating'

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Title: Whatever May Come

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Author: Nihilum (Nil too, it is just that someone on ff.net already has that name.)

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Rating: PG-13

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Summary: Harry begins his 6th year and finds amazing discoveries concerning his true heritage.

****

Disclaimer: If I own Harry Potter, I wouldn't be posting it on FanFiction sites. I would be making some money. I do however, own the plot completely, and if not it is only because I have never seen one of this type. I think this is the only story like this at least. I hope.

****

Feedback? If you would be so kind. ^^

****

Archive? I would be honored! But only if you ask me first. Otherwise I'll be a touch indignant.

He finished brushing his teeth and rinsed it off before taking it back with him to his room. Toward the beginning of the summer he had found himself being mildly sick and after about a week noticed how his new toothbrushes' bristles were looking rather worm and dirty. He bought himself a new one and started keeping it in his room when he didn't need it and the "mysterious" cold cleared up. He got Dudley back soon after by replacing the cream filling in his sandwich cookies with white toothpaste.

Setting down at the old computer desk that had been moved into his room (It wasn't terribly ld exactly, it was just that the part that slid out from the underside of the desk that held the keyboard was snapped off when Dudley leaned on it.) to write his requisite letter to the Order.

Finishing up with the short, bland letter to try and sooth Moody's worries (though knowing it was impossible) he tied it to Hedwig's leg and sent her out the window to Grimauld Place.

He had a bit of trouble admitting to himself that he was glad to be at the Dursley's, but he truly was. Now, truly happy might not be the word for it of course, but he wouldn't have been happier anyplace else. Here at the Dursley's he didn't have to act happy to please anyone, didn't have to worry about Death Eater attacking him, and with his friends under the protection of the Fidelius Charm at Grimauld he needn't worry about them. Besides that he had just lost the closest thing to a parent he had ever had and was left to be alone in his angsty shell to mope all he wanted, this was about as normal as his life would get.

Normal. Odd that that would be comforting to him, since it was always something he had thought he never held in high esteem since the Dursley's had valued it so much. But he was realizing that it wasn't true. Plopping down on the bed with a sigh he stared at the ceiling for a moment with his hands behind his head.

No, he may not have realized it, but he had always just wanted to be normal. The Dursleys, the first family he had known and the only one he had had for so long, valued it and shunned him because he wasn't/ Not being normal et him apart at Hogwarts, something that doesn't exactly make for a happy time, and it often seemed to get people around him killed. Sometimes what he wouldn't give to be normal.

He hadn't gotten over Sirius, not in the least, and everything could come back to death without any strain on the brain, but he had erected a sort of mental block for all things Sirius, but when the thoughts did come up he either managed to get it out of his mind or sit around moping for a long time. But that was fine since he had plenty of time alone, even if Aunt Petunia had seemed to be being nicer. He suspected Dumbledore had sent her a letter telling her about what had happened. 

Speaking of which, that was probably her now telling him that lunch was ready.

"Come in." He called, sitting up slightly as his cousin came in instead. "Uh, Dudley? What do you want?"

He stood in the door for a few moments looking blankly around the room before settling his gaze finally on Harry. He hadn't blinked once.

"Nothing Harry. Just bored. Hey, you want to go crating?" he asked with odd enthusiasm, his face going from blank boredom to exaggerated excitement as he suddenly had an epiphany. Harry sat all the way up on the bed. Something was definitely wrong, and it might have just been Moody rubbing off on him, but he immediately suspected Death Eaters. If only for the fact Dudley couldn't have gotten hold of any of his potion ingredients.

"Crating? What's that Dudley?" Harry asked carefully as his cousin looked faintly startled and confused. Harry stood up with his back to the window. He still wasn't blinking.

"Er, you know, crating, where we, uh, punch each other." That wasn't Dudley. He had no question in his mind it wasn't. He was still in the habit of carrying his wand with him from last summer, but now that he knew Voldemort was definitely going to be active he also kept his school bag separate from his trunk in his room with his invisibility cloak inside, some gold, and a few muggle pounds along with a change of clothes. His broom was right beneath the edge of his bed.

"Boxing Dudley?" he asked innocently while he opened the window behind him as inconspicuously as he could. The Dudley impersonator didn't seem concerned with anything except his blunder however.

"Yeah! That's it! So do you want to?" He grinned stupidly while Harry smiled back.

"Sure, 'll just meet you out s-" he had to duck as Dudley suddenly stepped forward while swinging a wide right hook at him. The distance between him (not to mention the slow style of punch) gave Harry plenty of forewarning to dive to the side and grab the bag. The Death Eater in disguise must have been slightly uncomfortable in Dudley's body since it took him a moment to realize he missed and to decide which direction to turn to since Harry was no longer on the side he had dodged to. (Or, it might have just been a Crabe of Goyle displaying their usual skills of observation.) Harry had darted around behind Dudley's back as soon as he had grabbed the bag and was already in the process of snatching his Firebolt from underneath his bed and was mounted before Dudley had completely gained his bearings. He kicked off to the side as Dudley lunged at him, pushed off from where the wall and ceiling met and was out the window.

_-_*_-_

James and Sirius spent the whole of the night and much of the next Saturday reviewing memories from each other, stopping only to take some Poly Juice at one point to sneak down to the kitchens to steal some food. Not that it was really stealing, since the house elves practically begged them to take it, but James always called it stealing.

"Geeze, Padfoot, your dad is really-" he started after coming out of the latest memory.

"I know. I lived it remember?" Now you know it too, and it is going to become one of your biggest secrets, all right?" he said tersely already pulling another memory out.

"Of course! It won't be told. But that does explain some of why you knew so many hexes and stuff before you started…" James finished drawing out a memory of his own, this one a family reunion so Sirius could "meet" his family.

"Uh huh, here you go," Sirius slid the pensieve over to him and grabbed the one with James' memories before touching the memory and going blank, all except fo his eyes, which moved around and focused and unfocused as though he was there. 

It was odd watching someone enter a memory, like a ripple of magic or conciseness or whatever it was moved over their body, going from the farthest part of their body to the part touching the memory. The entire body, sans the eyes, would go still, but not the frozen still of the Petrifying Jinx but as though they were cationic. Actually, that was a really good way to describe it he mused as he watched his friend.

'So, we are going to be two people, we will become the other person, and still remain ourselves in our minds. And I can't help but be reminded of that Hitchcock show dad took me to once… I'll have to have Sirius watch that.' James grinned to himself and entered the memory.

\|/\|/\|/\|/ 

"Great. Another one at his damn house." James sneered and looked around. Four memories already had been at Grimauld Place, and none of them had been what you could call pleasant. But they would be a big memory to anyone who had lived them and both he and Sirius had decided to do the memories that had had the greatest effect on their lives that were before Hogwarts first. While James hadn't had too many altering experiences before he hit the ago of eleven, Sirius, should by all rights be hospitalized in St. Mungo's…

He spotted the young otherSirius, around nine years old, scorning furniture and sitting on the floor in the corner reading a book. James kneeled down in front of him on his knees, trying to see the book cover. He wasn't having much luck at it though. YoungSirius was sitting with one knee curled underneath himself in a way that was surely uncomfortable with the other knee up and his book propped against it, subsequently blocking the title. 

James didn't have long to contemplate the way he was sitting/kneeling when the boy suddenly dove to his right with a spell shooting through James' chest not even a second later and leaving a faint burn mark on the wall. He turned to see a tall dark haired man smirking, amusements in his eyes with a wand still pointing at the corner. Sirius' dad.

"Good job Sirius! I hadn't thought you would have dodged in time. Very good…" otherSirius stood up straightening his robes as he did and went to retrieve his book. Before he got to it his father summoned it wordlessly and turned it over to see the cover.

"Hmm. 'Dueling for Life'. Learned anything?" he turned a blank gray gaze onto otherSirius.

"Nothing you haven't shown me already father. I'm not very far into it." his father nodded and looked satisfied.

"If you have questions on any of it, tell me. It is better to know now than be dead later." he paused for his son to nod and then continued. "I've been contemplating this for a long while, and have decided that you have earned this. Come here." otherSirius was obviously nervous, yet knew better than to hesitate on a command from his father.

"Here." when otherSirius had reached for him he pulled a white box with holes in it from behind his back. It had to have been floating there beforehand. OtherSirius took it, looking much less nervous but still apprehensive. James came closer as otherSirius lifted the lid before breaking into an expression of surprised delight as he dropped to his knees and brought out a squirming little puppy. No, crup. OtherSirius gathered it to him and grinned toothily up at his father.

"Thank you! He's wonderful! What's his name?" he said in one breath while his dad smiled in a manner that would be fatherly, if James hadn't already seen what the man was capable of.

"Whatever you want to name him as. Think hard about it, names are important and he should have a good one." he walked off as otherSirius thanked him again.

The memory abruptly ended and James was thrown out. They had discovered that al long as the other memories had been viewed someone could remove themselves from a Pensieve at will as soon as they had watched all the memories that had not been seen by them before.

After he had reoriented himself curtsey of a few blinks he went over to iris who was still in his family reunion and pulled him out of it.

"Hey, enough people. I want to show you a movie."

Urk. New chapter. Tell me what you think please. I had wrote this in my math notebook instead of doing work and had a bit of trouble typing this back out in the dark. My handwriting tends to run together, see? Anyway, I have to go sell pop from a golf cart at the fair tomorrow, so I have to get to sleep. Late here. G'night all.


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